looking E. over Sheboygan Reef, a geological oddity along Lake Michigan’s shores
A gentle westerly breeze rolls tiny breakers over Sheboygan Reef, a rare protrusion of limestone bedrock extending to Niagra Falls, as I walk along the lakefront bike path before an afternoon of meetings with Kohler Arts Center. I’ll be here for the week, on the initial, exploratory leg of our five week residency with the Center’s Connecting Communities program, and Sheboygan is enjoying a late autumn Indian Summer.
I’ll be meeting with museum staff, partners, students and community members to develop a project related to ‘non-motorized’ transportation, and enjoy being in the sponge mode phase as I gather information and explore the physical and cultural geography of this lovely town. I’m already impressed with the scale and layout of Sheboygan, whose commercial center is sensibly perched on a hill, the town of 50,000 spreading out comfortably along the contours of Lake Michigan and the Sheboygan River that transects it into a southside and a northside. ???? ??????? I’m even more impressed with the facilities, programming and staff of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center after my initial introductions, and anticipate an inspiring and productive week .
even the bathrooms of the Kohler Arts Center are inspiring
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Looking forward to learning more about your explorations….I’d love to learn more about the demographics of Sheboygen….who lives there and what brought them to the town? Were there waves of immigration/migration? How has the town changed over the course of the years? Good luck! We’re with you in spirit. Ene and Aili
It’s interesting. In the past 20 years, the demographics have changed. The Hmong seem to be the group that has grown in population the most. The first immigrant/refugees were settled here by churches, then the Hmong organized their own ‘sponsorship’ organizations. The Latin population continues to grow and thrive as well. I’m not positive, but my impression is that at least half the population are native-born, or grew up within the state. There does not appear to be a significant, urban ‘ex-pat’ demographic (yet), but there are hints of this and there is a summer population who own second homes/condos.